Ike

We spent an interesting several days recovering from Ike. He knocked out the power in a large swath through our area. As usual, the neighbor and HIM went through with their generators and hooked folks up long enough to keep their refrigerators cold. The neighbor's wife went for gasoline to keep the generators working. There was a lot of pitching in and helping. I cannot help but be so glad we live here where folks really care about each other. No one took notes on who did what or asked for money. And it did not matter who was friends or even acquaintances. Aside from the inconvenience we suffered little damage. Some roof tiles blew off and some cars were hit with falling trees. Nothing at all like the damage suffered by the Texans. We had long dark quiet nights. HIM is quite an inventor so there was a emergency battery kit that could run a lamp and portable DVD player. I caught up on paperwork while HIM and the son watched DVD's. One night we took a drive to see what areas had power and plugged the DVD player into the car's power to recharge. The local outlet mall was fully bright and filled with shoppers. One half mile south of there it was dark. Half of another town was lit and the other half dark. The grocery store had no power but there were refrigerator trucks behind it. They managed to sell canned goods. I had ordered the obligatory store-baked birthday cake for the Son but expected to have the order canceled. It is kind of hard to bake a cake with no power. And yet, Tuesday morning I received a phone call that the cake was ready to be picked-up. I still don't know how they managed. It was a very pleasant surprise.

I have to give honors to the power repair folks who worked very hard to get everyone back on the grid. Some folks were without power for more than a week. The repair folk were hampered by lack of personnel since so many had gone to Texas to help those poor folk. I wonder how many men and women are still there? It isn't just servicemen and women who serve in times of need. We really do have a great nation. I wish the papers carried those stories.

One would think that during this powerless time I would have done more knitting. I must still be getting over whatever bug bit me this Spring. The bug that caused me to not knit for months. I need to find the cure pretty darn quick. Christmas is coming.